Computer networks are used in a variety of applications and environments to enable communication between computer devices. Some networks are connected such that computer nodes in the network communicate via physical cables or wires. Other networks can include wireless connections, so that the computer nodes can communicate using wireless signals, e.g., radio frequency, infrared, or other signals.
Some computer networks can include portable computer devices, such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, game devices, etc. One type of network that often includes portable devices is a personal area network (PAN). A PAN is a computer network used for communication among computer devices that are typically physically close to a user. For example, the range of communication between devices in a PAN is typically a few meters. PANs may have physical wired connections, as with computer buses such as USB and Firewire. A wireless personal area network (WPAN) is more often used, with network technologies such as Bluetooth®, IrDA®, and Zigbee™.
For example, Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and digital cameras via a secure, low-cost, globally available short range radio frequency. Bluetooth lets these devices talk to each other when they come in range, typically 10 to 100 meters of each other, depending on the power class of the product. A Bluetooth PAN (also known as a piconet) is composed of up to 8 active devices in a master-slave relationship.
One problem with existing computer networks is that content, such as images, music, etc., is often not stored within the network, but is stored remotely to the network on a server. This is even more often true for personal area networks. For example, photos may be stored on a photo website, remotely from a display screen in a PAN. Moreover, desired remote content is not easily retrieved from other networks and servers. For example, a computer device typically makes a simple connection to a server, and the user must figure out what content he or she wants to download, and then manually and tediously navigate through all the content on the server to find particular content to download. The content must then be forwarded to a desired device or node. This same procedure must be repeated each time the user connects to another network, which may occur frequently if the user uses a portable device and often moves into different wireless networks such as PANs, for example. In addition, any downloading preferences the user may have will not be available when using other devices to download content, or in other networks.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system allowing appropriate content from a server to be easily found and provided to nodes in a network, and for user preferences and node characteristics to be known by a server even when a user uses different computer devices or networks to connect to the server. The present invention addresses such a need.